Michigan does not seem to have a shortage of indie folk musicians and bands.

Stateside's Emily Fox sat down with one folk musician who's back on the scene after a two-year hiatus from the stage.

Chris Bathgate is an Ann Arbor-area musician who spent a long time traveling the state and the country playing his music. Sometimes he comes with a full band with percussion and electric base and fiddle backing him up. Sometimes it's just him with guitar, a loop machine, and snare drum.

During the summertime, music festivals take over forests and fields all across the state.

Greensky Bluegrass is very familiar on Michigan's music scene. But the Kalamazoo-based band is also gaining national attention.

"If Sorrows Swim," the latest album from Greensky Bluegrass, is released today. Stateside's Emily Fox recently sat down with two members of the band, mandolin player Paul Hoffman and dobro player Anders Beck.

The title of Greensky Bluegrass' newest album was inspired after their mandolin player spent a little too much time listening to This American Life while on the road touring.

"Somewhere in the interview, there was a discussion like, what if we can't drown our sorrows ... And if just occurred to me as a very prolific thing. Isolated as the album title, if sorrows swim, it leaves the answer unknown. What if sorrows swim, then it's for you to decide what the answer might be," says Hoffman.

Popular music has had stellar examples of singer/songwriters who met in school...whose partnership began at a very young age.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney met when John was 16 and Paul was just 15. Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel met in grade school. They were 12 years old and had their first hit record, "Hey Schoolgirl," when they were just 16 years old.

Now we want you to meet a Michigan duo who are getting a lot of buzz for their indie-folk songs, The Accidentals.

The Accidentals are Katie Larson and Savannah Buist, who met at the Interlochen Arts Academy. They are 18 years old, and they joined us today from Traverse City.

Special Education students and their families in Michigan are about one month into the new school year and they're feeling the impact of the federal sequester cuts. Today, we looked at the cuts to special ed funding and find out what it means to schools and students.

And, a look at social media etiquette and your job--what's allowed and what's not.

And, one Detroit musician, and AP reporter, talks about his family's deep roots in Motown.

Also, we spoke with one man who has made it his mission to save pinball machines from the scrap yard. He plans to open up a private pinball museum.

First on the show, we are just hours away from what appears likely to be a partial government shutdown.

The U.S. Senate, controlled by Democrats and the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives, have been unable to come to an agreement on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government. If no agreement is reached today, which appears likely, the government begins shutting down at midnight.

David Shepardson, Washington D.C. based reporter for the Detroit News, joined us today from Washington.

They're called "The Ragbirds," a five-piece folk-rock-fusion band out of Ann Arbor.

The band has quite an avid following. Fans who are looking forward to seeing the Ragbirds hit the road. But when that happens this fall, the Ragbirds will be packing more than guitars and fiddles and percussion. They're going to be packing diapers and all the myriad supplies that you need to travel with a baby.

Lead vocalist and Celtic fiddler Erin Zindle is due just about any moment now. She joined us today in the studio to talk about the "Brave New Baby" tour.

Of the many things made in Michigan that have become part of the fabric of American culture — the auto industry, Motown — punk rock is often overlooked. In 1967, years before The Sex Pistols performed incendiary anthems, Iggy Pop and his band The Stooges created an explosive new sound in Detroit that would influence generations of musicians.

Shelley Heron is an oboist with the orchestra, and she’ll be one of the instructors. Heron has taught at similar camps in Canada for decades. She says "the biggest thrill is hearing them the first day and wondering, oh my gosh how are we ever going to get these kids to produce a concert at the end of the week? And then a little miracle happens."

In addition to master classes and workshops, the campers will perform side by side with DSO musicians on stage at Orchestra Hall.

There are no auditions for the camp; the first 140 students to apply will be accepted. It costs $300 to attend the camp, but Heron says "we have raised financial aid funds in order to help those students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate in an activity like this." Financial aid is available on a first come, first serve basis.

This program will lead students to creative approaches to popular musical composition by developing skills in melody, harmony, arranging, and lyric writing, while seeking to nurture a distinct individual writing and performance style.

The northern Michigan institution has taught many young musicians who've gone on to become successful singer/songwriters, including

ArtPrize 2011 begins Wednesday afternoon in Grand Rapids. Sound and performing arts will play a bigger role in this year’s contest. Music, ballet, and other performances are, after all, art. But there haven’t been a lot of entries in the past.

The winner of the art competition gets $250,000 in prize money. Organizers claim it’s the world’s largest art prize.

This is the third annual ArtPrize. The third time I’ve seen giant sculptures, breath-taking murals, funny and eye-opening drawings take over a three-mile zone in downtown.

A program based out of Flint teaches kids the fundamentals of songwriting and music production. But the songs kids write are not your typical bubble-gum pop. The program is a professional music studio that travels to schools and community centers in Flint, Grand Rapids, and Kalamazoo. It's called Studio on the Go.

A quintet of musicians has been traveling across the state for the past 10 days. They don’t have a tour van or a u-haul stuffed with instruments. Instead, the guys are pedaling their bikes from Holland to Detroit…with their instruments in tow! They're also raising money for various charities along the way.

There's no shortage of musicians who got their start in Michigan: Madonna, Iggy Pop and The White Stripes come to mind. Problem is, they left the state to make it big.

Emily Fox reports there's a movement to try to encourage musicians and bands to stay in Michigan. On today's Artpod, we look at how local "music collectives" are hoping to keep homegrown talent in the state.

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra will keep its executive director for the next few years. The DSO announced this afternoon that its Board of Directors renewed CEO Ann Parsons’ contract through 2014.

Parsons led the Detroit Symphony through the recent dispute with its unions that shutdown the DSO for much of the past year. The six month strike came to an end after musicians agreed to a 25% cut in pay.

In hopes of luring back its fans, the DSO is cutting ticket prices for the upcoming symphony season.

The dispute was over how deep a pay cut the musicians would have to take to help the struggling symphony balance its budget. The musicians were offering to accept a 22 percent cut, while management sought and then imposed a 33 percent cut.

In an announcement on the DSO's website, DSO Music Director Leonard Slatkin said:

“As we return to our home, I’m confident that the artistic product will continue at the highest possible level. There is much to be done but the DSO will emerge a healthier and stronger institution."

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra musicians strike may be nearing its end, but there’s still a lot of work that needs to be done to get things back on track at Orchestra Hall.

For starters, the organization has to figure out how to overcome some ‘image’ problems that come with a six-month strike.

Elizabeth Weigandt is a DSO spokeswoman. She says it hasn’t been pretty to watch the strike unfold, and some patrons may not be happy with how things were handled over the last six months, but "we're hoping that as we get back to making music for them, doing what they love, they will be able to let go of what’s happened, just as we will, and move on to an even better future."

Then there's the music. Nearly all of the current season has been lost to the strike, and the summer season was threatened as well. But Weigandt says the summer season is back on and she doesn’t think the 2011-12 season will be delayed:

"Obviously we have to move quickly to get the word out about what next season will be, but we do have a lot of interest. We will probably make the announcement as soon as we can. I would say within the next couple weeks."

The Detroit Symphony announced late this afternoon that orchestra musicians have agreed to return to work before voting on a new contract. The DSO and its musicians' union reached a tentative contract deal over the weekend.

The musicians' union met this afternoon. After the meeting, the DSO announced the musicians will return to work on Thursday to begin rehearsing for upcoming concerts. The union plans a vote on the union contract later this week.

In a written statement, music director Leonard Slatkin expressed the hope that the DSO will emerge strong from the strike that has silenced it for the past six months:

“As we return to our home, I’m confident that the artistic product will continue at the highest possible level. There is much to be done but the DSO will emerge a healthier and stronger institution.”

From the AP: Musicians' spokesman Greg Bowens says the tentative agreement was reached late Sunday. He says musicians will vote this week on whether to ratify the deal.

6:27 a.m.:

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra says a tentative agreement has been reached with striking musicians that could resolve a six-month strike, the Associated Press reports. From the AP:

Management spokeswoman Elizabeth Weigandt tells The Associated Press in an e-mail Monday morning that details of the agreement reached following talks over the weekend weren't being immediately released.

A message seeking comment was left with musicians spokesman Greg Bowens... Musicians had said they were given a deadline of last Friday to settle the strike or face losing the summer performance season and jeopardizing the fall season.